Marvel Officially Casts Paul Rudd to Play Ant-Man!

After a lot of rumors floated around about the actor being sought after for the starring role in Edgar Wright's upcoming Ant-Man movie for Marvel, the studio has now officially confirmed that Paul Rudd will portray the superhero on the big screen in 2015. Come inside for the press release and a statement from Kevin Feige!

Ant-Man is set to kick off Marvel's Phase 3, following on from The Avengers: Age of Ultron releasing a few months earlier, and there's been a lot of speculation as to who would be portraying the shrinking scientist turned superhero. Rudd's name came up early in the rumor mill, and it turns out there's a good reason for it, he'd been top of the list for a while.

“When Edgar Wright came to us with the idea of Paul Rudd, we felt a huge sense of relief because the first step in creating any Marvel Studios film is finding the right star," said Marvel's Kevin Feige. "We knew early on that we had found the right person in Paul. When he not only agreed to do it but became as enthusiastic as any actor we’d ever met with about doing the work, we knew we’d found the right guy. We couldn’t be more excited for our audiences to see what he’s going to do to bring Ant-Man to life.”

The press release follows, but don't look for any plot details, nor any real confirmation on which version of Ant-Man he'll be playing:

Marvel Studios confirmed today that renowned actor Paul Rudd has been cast to star as the title character in Marvel’s Ant-Man. The feature film is being directed by Edgar Wright. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige will produce the film with Nira Park.

The casting of Rudd represents the actor that Marvel had long ago identified as its first choice to play Ant-Man, continuing the studio’s desire to cast actors that bring several dimensions to its onscreen heroes. The film’s plot is being kept under wraps.

Rudd brings a diverse background to the role having become one of the industry’s most known actors with a reputation for smart, funny and creative performances. Rudd can currently be seen in Anchor Man 2: The Legend Continues, as well as past roles in Anchorman; This Is 40; I Love You, Man; Role Models; Forgetting Sarah Marshall; Our Idiot Brother; Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin among numerous other films, television shows and primetime animation.

Paul Rudd will be suited up on July 31, 2015. What do you think of casting choice for Rudd? I really like the choice and think he can do a great job with it. While I don't know much about the character or really read his comics, what I do know seems to fit the bill for Rudd's resume.